April 29, 2008

Wonder if we will get smacked with wind again? I shouldn't complain as some are getting hit with earthquakes and tornados - but I really don't like the wind! Anyway, hoping to get outside with Hailey some today! I also need to do some cleaning in the basement - namely clearing off the stairs - Everytime something needs to go down it seems to only make it halfway then the stairs get super cluttered! My own fault, Bummer.

Hailey stayed up late last night. She was in her bed but she was AWAKE. She was "reading" books, singing (at the top of her lungs) all songs started with 5, 6, 7, 8 .... it was pretty cute! She also tried to "WILL" her door open - "when I say OPEN you open" funny thing is it never opened - guess she does not have any special powers!

Lauren has a social studies test tomorrow - she is determined to get an A on it. She has a B+ in social studies and she does not like that....the problem is the tests are hard and as previously stated expect people to just blurt what was in the book - even if they get the concept they can get the answer wrong - to me concept is more important than a sentance from a text book.

Speaking of text books - I saw this on and EDUBLOG last week...now seems the perfect time to share:

The Need for TextbooksI was troubleshooting a computer today right next to a poster with our tornado instructions on it. As I was waiting on a reboot I started reading it and this paragraph jumped out at me.If there is not time to move rooms, students should assume the duck and cover position under tables or desks in the room. If tables or desks are not available, students should hold textbooks over their heads.Ahhh, now I finally understand the need for textbooks in K-12. Somehow, "duck and cover" and "hold[ing] textbooks over their heads" struck me as particularly appropriate descriptions of some of the issues facing education.

it sparked a pretty good comment section on the blog most completely agreeing with the statement - only 1 defending the use of text books. My favorite comment was the one that said - I have to ask, in what situation would desks and/or tables NOT be available or have those been cut from many budgets too?